Dumbing of Age Book Twelve

Dumbing of Age

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BUFFER WATCH Comics are currently drawn and uploaded through:

June 14, 2026

Not anyone’s mother

by David M Willis on January 15, 2025 at 12:01 am
  • 02 – The One Where Jocelyne Returns
└ Tags: charlie, leslie

Discussion (167) ¬

[ Comments RSS ]
  1. NGPZ
    NGPZ
    January 15, 2025 at 12:02 am | #

    this is the sound of the sun she’s talking about BTW

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I-zdmg_Dno

    is the sound of nuclear fusion turning 600 million tonnes of hydrogen into 596 million tonnes of helium every second

    • RassilonTDavros
      RassilonTDavros
      January 15, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

      …you know, I could swear I’ve heard this exact sound in a 1960s Dr. Who episode.

      • Fëanen
        Fëanen
        January 15, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

        I read your comment as tongue in cheek, but listening to it…yeah, total Dalek city vibes.

    • Joe Moose
      Joe Moose
      January 15, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

      That has to be one of the most zoned out sounds I’ve heard. I was immediately put into a zoinked out state. Weird/

      • NGPZ
        NGPZ
        January 15, 2025 at 12:53 am | #

        BTW this sound IRL is MUCH longer than 3 minutes, specifically the sound you’re hearing in the vid is sped up by a factor of 42,000 to make it audible to human ears

        if it sounds familiar, you probably remember playing with a plasma sphere as a kid, no? it’s exactly that, it’s the sound of plasma flowing around in the sun’s atmosphere, i.e. solar weather

        a microwave sounds similar on account of an oscillating magnetic field causing metal components inside the microwave to vibrate, is literally what’s happening inside the sun as the shifting plasma winds inside the sun generate a very powerful oscillating magnetic field

        • NGPZ
          NGPZ
          January 15, 2025 at 1:37 am | #

          thus if you can’t hear it, it’s because bipedal primates haven’t evolved to hear frequencies lower than 20 hz, big whoop XD

          the sound is that of a big “microwave” oven making helium for birthday balloons in it’s core

          like no other factory in our solar system, our sun uses gravity to mix hydrogen atoms by waterfalls, churning and mixing trillions of tonnes of plasma an hour via nuclear reaction, also producing energy mostly in the form of gamma rays and X-rays at the core, continuously absorbed and re-emitted by atoms throughout the sun’s layers for centuries before making it to the surface and being spat out into space in the form of mostly visible light

          but a very tiny fraction of the emitted radiation is the UV light which activates photosynthesis and fuels just about all life on earth

          the energy of being a living organism, of doing things, of thinking, of all of your existence, and that of all that walks, all that runs, of all that swims, of all that crawls, of all that flies, of all that thinks, of all that plays, of all that fucks

          • Jon
            Jon
            January 15, 2025 at 2:48 am | #

            I mean, you also can’t here it because there’s 93 million miles of vacuum between here and there, and vacuum is quite noted for its inability to propagate sound. There’s a movie tagline about it and everything!

            • Jon
              Jon
              January 15, 2025 at 2:49 am | #

              *can’t [i]hear[/i] it. I shouldn’t be typing this late.

            • NGPZ
              NGPZ
              January 15, 2025 at 3:15 am | #

              I mean we can literally hear it on earth despite that distance thanks to the work of scientists who turned raw doppler imager data from artificial satellites orbiting the sun into the video sound above 😛

              is basically the audio recording equivalent of long-exposure photography

              • NGPZ
                NGPZ
                January 15, 2025 at 3:29 am | #

                heck even without these satelites, the sun’s atmospheric activity can very much be heard on earth in the form of radio interference caused by coronal mass ejections and solar flares

                • Vigil247
                  Vigil247
                  January 15, 2025 at 8:01 am | #

                  This comment thread is beautiful. We’re just a bunch of great apes using a massive global infrastructure of communications technology to look at art and talk about stars. Humans are so awesome lol

                • NGPZ
                  NGPZ
                  January 15, 2025 at 6:03 pm | #

                  of course

                  hardly a coincidence the internet itself was literally invented by physicists :)

          • eh, whatever
            eh, whatever
            January 15, 2025 at 12:45 pm | #

            …I’m late, but… photosynthesis uses red and blue, not UV.

            • NGPZ
              NGPZ
              January 15, 2025 at 5:58 pm | #

              ah yes, not always easy to keep track of which wavelength’s do what in earth’s carbon based life

              except of course gamma and X-rays, their effects on living cells are pretty hard not to overstate XD

    • Xaeon
      Xaeon
      January 15, 2025 at 8:40 am | #

      So that is what I keep hearing…then what’s making the laughing sound?

      • Opus the Poet
        Opus the Poet
        January 15, 2025 at 9:46 pm | #

        Solar turbulence when speeded up sometimes sounds like a baby laughing, making the opening credits of Teletubbies a physics lesson for toddlers.

  2. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    January 15, 2025 at 12:02 am | #

    so… this?

    • Regret
      Regret
      January 15, 2025 at 1:46 am | #

      I was thinking more like this:
      https://youtu.be/wWoQ7PFSYlk?si=HhWYJvpa5PNP5N98

  3. Doctor_Who
    Doctor_Who
    January 15, 2025 at 12:02 am | #

    Leslie: I just want to make it clear I am not a substitute for your mother.

    Charlie: Of course not. My mother is 10 billion cosmic bees. They sang in harmony at the time of the great conjunction, and so it came to pass that I had always been.

    Leslie: …And Booster?

    Charlie: Oh, they were just a C-section.

    • Jo_cubstar
      Jo_cubstar
      January 15, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

      Aren’t they twins? …this is a stupid question and I’m too tired to Google it, but are there twins where one was born vaginally and the other through C-section?

      • Doctor_Who
        Doctor_Who
        January 15, 2025 at 12:10 am | #

        I like the implication that that’s the only part of this explanation that doesn’t make sense.

        • Jeremiah
          Jeremiah
          January 15, 2025 at 12:27 am | #

          Well yes everything else was perfectly logical and natural, the c section is what seems weird

          • Songbird
            Songbird
            January 15, 2025 at 8:01 pm | #

            As an unrelated side note, there was apparently a point in history where C-section births didn’t used to meet the colloquial (and possibly the then-official? I dunno) definition of “birth.” It’s the reason why Duncan was able to kill the eponymous Macbeth in Shakespeare’s play, given the “no man of woman born” could kill Macbeth. The implication was supposed to be that Duncan came into the world by C-section, and thus wasn’t technically “born” by the cultural understanding of the time.

            As a C-section child, this greatly amuses me, and so I sometimes like to privately joke to myself that I was never actually born and that my “birthday” was a sham. A conspiracy, I tell you!

            • Decidedly Orthogonal
              Decidedly Orthogonal
              January 15, 2025 at 11:33 pm | #

              Clearly we just need to carve out a day to celebrate you properly.

        • Nymph
          Nymph
          January 15, 2025 at 6:19 am | #

          I like the implication that the first part describes “being born”.

      • Lee
        Lee
        January 15, 2025 at 12:20 am | #

        I’m not an expert but I’m p sure I’ve read about situations where one twin is a premie and one isn’t so theoretically, perhaps?

      • Cass
        Cass
        January 15, 2025 at 12:21 am | #

        It’s not super common but yeah, if something goes wrong with birthing the second twin it might need to get swapped to an emergency C-section after the first has already been born.

        • Michael Steamweed
          Michael Steamweed
          January 15, 2025 at 8:35 am | #

          Yes indeed. Problems can arise when birthing twins. Cord around neck; breech position. Bad stuff: time to get ’em out the hard way.

    • anon
      anon
      January 15, 2025 at 5:14 pm | #

      wonder how the other students are reacting to her blatant favoritism but i imagine they don’t rly care lol

  4. Liara
    Liara
    January 15, 2025 at 12:03 am | #

    That’s the great thing about space not carrying sound: the universe would be so flippin loud

    • mindbleach
      mindbleach
      January 15, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

      It carries light, and it’s still pretty dark.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      January 15, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

      The Sun is very far away and sound doesn’t carry as well as light, so it might not be too bad?

    • brionl
      brionl
      January 15, 2025 at 12:25 am | #

      Well, actually…
      There is free gas floating around between the stars, and there are interactions between them, so there is “sound” in space. Between the stars in our galaxy the speed of sound is around 100 km/s.

      There is even a star cluster that is reverberating to a single sound wave, B-flat, 57 octaves below middle C.

      • brionl
        brionl
        January 15, 2025 at 12:26 am | #

        flingin’ flangin’ no editing:

        https://www.system-sounds.com/black-hole-sound/

        • Buck Ripsnort
          Buck Ripsnort
          January 15, 2025 at 8:20 am | #

          OK, when I heard that I just couldn’t help imagining a chorus of monks intoning it, and spooked the crap out of myself.

      • Mark
        Mark
        January 15, 2025 at 6:43 am | #

        And more nearby. Cf. “solar wind”. There’s enough of it blowing past to deform our planet’s magnetosphere!

    • Jamie
      Jamie
      January 15, 2025 at 1:38 am | #

      Kinda wonder if stuff like gravitational waves count as sound.

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        January 15, 2025 at 8:38 am | #

        Yes. Not sounds we can hear but it’s all vibrations in the medium anyway. But if it were many orders of magnitude stronger, we could hear it. (and that would be bad)

      • yak
        yak
        January 15, 2025 at 1:51 pm | #

        In the strictest sense, they aren’t. Sound is pressure waves specifically, like you wouldn’t call a ripple a sound. The equations for sound wave propagation are also of a completely different character to those for gravitational wave propagation, so a gravitational wave doesn’t necessarily have any of the properties of sound, such as the ability to bounce off solid objects, being ‘louder’ the closer you are to the source, doppler shifting, etc.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 15, 2025 at 8:36 am | #

      Now with LIGO, et al, we can hear more noise! Yay! for gravitational waves!

  5. Charles Phipps
    Charles Phipps
    January 15, 2025 at 12:03 am | #

    Leslie, you need to stop putting hands on your students.

    Especially autistic ones.

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      January 15, 2025 at 12:05 am | #

      second this

      like don’t touch anyone like that without consent really, autistic or not

      • Charles Phipps
        Charles Phipps
        January 15, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

        The only time a teacher should be touching their students if they’re strangling them.

        • NGPZ
          NGPZ
          January 15, 2025 at 1:47 am | #

          i mean ngl, that’s pretty justified in Mary’s case XD

  6. Cassie
    Cassie
    January 15, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    Leslie, have you ever considered thinking before you do things? Because it rather feels like you haven’t.

    • mindbleach
      mindbleach
      January 15, 2025 at 12:08 am | #

      We have seen her thinking about doing stuff with people. It’s not any better for her decision-making process.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      January 15, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

      Would overthinking count? I think she could do overthinking.

      • Effie
        Effie
        January 15, 2025 at 12:22 am | #

        I think you might be overthinking her overthinking.

        But I think I might be overthinking you overthinking her overthinking.

        • Jeremiah
          Jeremiah
          January 15, 2025 at 12:25 am | #

          But if you are overthinking their overthinking over her overthinking, then who is piloting the plane?!

          • Cassie
            Cassie
            January 15, 2025 at 1:08 am | #

            It can’t be; Who is on first.

            • Jamie
              Jamie
              January 15, 2025 at 1:39 am | #

              And what’s in the copilot seat.

              • Michael Steamweed
                Michael Steamweed
                January 15, 2025 at 8:39 am | #

                IDon’tKnow.

                • Ed Callahan
                  Ed Callahan
                  January 15, 2025 at 9:32 am | #

                  I don’t give a dam.

                  He’s the catcher.

                • NGPZ
                  NGPZ
                  January 15, 2025 at 8:31 pm | #

                  they go dam good with rye bread :9

          • Nymph
            Nymph
            January 15, 2025 at 1:35 am | #

            Well that’s it, I’m over thinking.

            • clif
              clif
              January 15, 2025 at 2:52 am | #

              Here. Have a spare Internet.

        • Reltzik
          Reltzik
          January 15, 2025 at 2:51 am | #

          Huh. You might have a point. I’ll have to think it over.

  7. Smooti
    Smooti
    January 15, 2025 at 12:04 am | #

    I understand Charlie perfectly. It’s very distracting.

  8. Charles Phipps
    Charles Phipps
    January 15, 2025 at 12:05 am | #

    Leslie: I will be there for you, always, Mar…oh crap.

    Mary: BWahahahhahahaha.

    • Mark
      Mark
      January 15, 2025 at 6:47 am | #

      Hm, is Mary in this class? Or is she spending all of her spare time figuring out how to graduate without taking Gender Studies or anything like it?

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        January 15, 2025 at 8:41 am | #

        Easily done; GS and such classes are almost always electives. Not required for any degree or minor. Might be required for a certificate or two.

        • Charles Phipps
          Charles Phipps
          January 15, 2025 at 9:49 am | #

          She blogs about how its teaching woke nonsense.

  9. Thag Simmons
    Thag Simmons
    January 15, 2025 at 12:07 am | #

    The Sun’s a big place, it’s probably making a lot of sounds.

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      January 15, 2025 at 12:29 am | #

      But are things quieter at night?

      • Regret
        Regret
        January 15, 2025 at 1:45 am | #

        *twitch*
        Need to explain rising.
        Quick! Close the tab!

      • Thag Simmons
        Thag Simmons
        January 15, 2025 at 3:16 am | #

        I don’t think there are nights on the sun

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        January 15, 2025 at 8:42 am | #

        Nights on the sun are darker, sure. Quieter, no (all those mass ejections).

  10. Cholma
    Cholma
    January 15, 2025 at 12:10 am | #

    Dear Dina, why did you take back the hat you gave Charlie?! At the very least, you should’ve gotten her a replacement first! (But this time, go get the hat yourself, instead of traveling with Charlie; not sure the universe could survive that)

    • brionl
      brionl
      January 15, 2025 at 12:30 am | #

      Charlie said she wanted a different hat.

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2024/comic/book-15/01-love-dares-you-to-change/tighter/

      That was the start of their epic adventure, Hat Quest!

      • PedanticJerkass
        PedanticJerkass
        January 15, 2025 at 6:57 pm | #

        The hat she ended up with after that quest was the same hat she started with… which Dina almost immediately snatched away… so yeah, Charlie still needs a hat.

  11. True Survivor
    True Survivor
    January 15, 2025 at 12:12 am | #

    Or screaming, or weeping. You know attributing any emotion to the sun is a terrifying prospect.

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      January 15, 2025 at 12:16 am | #

      I like to think it has a sunny disposition.

      • Dana
        Dana
        January 15, 2025 at 1:11 am | #

        Life can be delish with a sunny disposish

    • Mark
      Mark
      January 15, 2025 at 6:52 am | #

      Maybe don’t read Out of the Silent Planet then.

      Or, do. It’s weird.

      • Mark
        Mark
        January 15, 2025 at 6:55 am | #

        Or, I think it was Games Wizards Play, wherein Our Heroes meet the various local planets at a party.

  12. Jude Deluca
    Jude Deluca
    January 15, 2025 at 12:15 am | #

    The sound the sun makes is “Lowenstein… Lowenstein…”

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      January 15, 2025 at 12:23 am | #

      Her name is Zweig

  13. Nono
    Nono
    January 15, 2025 at 12:16 am | #

    Okay Charlie was round 2, I guess next round would be a male student?

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      January 15, 2025 at 1:37 am | #

      Sure, line up for odd shoulder-touches from your teacher, all ye men and women.

  14. Amelie Wikström
    Amelie Wikström
    January 15, 2025 at 12:18 am | #

    Did you know there’s rain on the sun? Plasma showers, hotter than the center of the Earth, falling in arcs along magnetic distortions. If you get within the Sun’s atmosphere I wonder if there would be any vibrations quiet enough to qualify as sound or just blastwaves.

  15. Lee
    Lee
    January 15, 2025 at 12:19 am | #

    I was today old when I realised Leslie’s name is Lesliebean. Lesbian.

    • I Write Monsters
      I Write Monsters
      January 15, 2025 at 12:23 am | #

      That’s because, in Shortpacked, she spent months being referred to by Desanto only as “my lesbian.”

      • Jamie
        Jamie
        January 15, 2025 at 1:42 am | #

        As I recall, the pun was the entire joke. And then Willis fleshed her character out.

  16. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    January 15, 2025 at 12:19 am | #

    you folks can’t hear the sun?

  17. Jeremiah
    Jeremiah
    January 15, 2025 at 12:22 am | #

    The sun definitely laughing at us. And we kind of deserve it mostly

  18. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    January 15, 2025 at 12:22 am | #

    My favorite planet is the sun. It’s like, the King of Planets.

    • eh, whatever
      eh, whatever
      January 15, 2025 at 12:52 pm | #

      aaaaaaargh

  19. Icalasari
    Icalasari
    January 15, 2025 at 12:27 am | #

    That’s not even a joke. The sun makes a terrifying noise

  20. Sirksome
    Sirksome
    January 15, 2025 at 12:33 am | #

    Whoa! Charlie better check who she’s getting that mother figure/role model relationship from! She’s still fresh blood around here. She ain’t even lost a parent or been kidnapped yet and she’s already moving in on some at risk queer’s territory.

    • Rotunda
      Rotunda
      January 15, 2025 at 3:22 am | #

      Do we know that Charlie and Booster’s parents are still alive?

  21. IntangibleMatter
    IntangibleMatter
    January 15, 2025 at 12:33 am | #

    There are worse students she could’ve picked for this.

    Like Mary.

    Fuckin’ Mary.

    • Nono
      Nono
      January 15, 2025 at 12:47 am | #

      Mary doesn’t take gender studies.

      • Jeremiah
        Jeremiah
        January 15, 2025 at 12:54 am | #

        Pretty sure she would burn if she ever tried

      • NGPZ
        NGPZ
        January 15, 2025 at 2:06 am | #

        yeah something tells me she’s the kind of conservative who looks up guides for what courses to take to graduate college “without touching liberal bullshit” 9-9

        • AnonGrouch
          AnonGrouch
          January 15, 2025 at 7:27 am | #

          The fuck? That’s a thing?

          • Nymph
            Nymph
            January 15, 2025 at 7:31 am | #

            I genuinely envy this lack of awareness on the topic. I miss it.

            • NGPZ
              NGPZ
              January 15, 2025 at 3:26 pm | #

              unfortunately it’s the case that some degree of this awareness is a necessity in fighting for our causes

              if we are to defeat the reactionary enemy, we have to know how they *think*

              • Nymph
                Nymph
                January 16, 2025 at 1:49 am | #

                I still envy it. I can hold two opposing thoughts in my head.

          • Michael Steamweed
            Michael Steamweed
            January 15, 2025 at 8:45 am | #

            Yes.

  22. Pocky
    Pocky
    January 15, 2025 at 12:37 am | #

    it’s just the sun’s constant screaming

    nothing to worry about

    • Regret
      Regret
      January 15, 2025 at 1:43 am | #

      And all of a sudden I identify with the sun.

    • Mark
      Mark
      January 15, 2025 at 6:58 am | #

      Makes sense. It can see us, after all.

  23. Lilliam
    Lilliam
    January 15, 2025 at 12:38 am | #

    Omg I am Charlie

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 15, 2025 at 8:45 am | #

      Apt gravitar is apt.

  24. Imperator
    Imperator
    January 15, 2025 at 12:45 am | #

    -Solar goon cave noises intensify-

    • Derek
      Derek
      January 15, 2025 at 1:28 am | #

      goon??

  25. Derek
    Derek
    January 15, 2025 at 12:51 am | #

    now that it’s been brought up, I do think it’s a conflict of interest that Leslie is the teacher of a student she was hosting in her house last semester. Maybe Becky’s exam should be graded by someone other than Leslie

    • Amelie Wikström
      Amelie Wikström
      January 15, 2025 at 12:55 am | #

      With Becky’s wildly politically backed scholarship, she probably doesn’t need this class for the grades. I’m guessing.

    • Nono
      Nono
      January 15, 2025 at 1:30 am | #

      Robin would have bigger conflicts of interest with her students but nobody is doing anything about that, so

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      January 15, 2025 at 5:01 am | #

      Last semester

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        January 15, 2025 at 7:49 am | #

        For about a week.

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          January 15, 2025 at 5:01 pm | #

          Yeah, definitely not long enough for a conflict of interest. Now, the month spent on wild foursomes between Beckasaur and Dental Damn It , that might be a problem.

  26. ian livs
    ian livs
    January 15, 2025 at 1:00 am | #

    I’m glad the sun is far away. Otherwise, I bet it’d sound like a worse version of the shrill sound that electronics make. You know, when they’re plugged in across the room but my autistic brethren and I can still hear them, for some damn reason

    • clif
      clif
      January 15, 2025 at 2:58 am | #

      If the sun were not far away, its sound would be the least of your problems.

      • ian livs
        ian livs
        January 15, 2025 at 3:58 am | #

        That too, I guess ^_^’

      • thejeff
        thejeff
        January 15, 2025 at 7:49 am | #

        If the sun was much further away, we’d also have big problems.

        I like it just where it is.

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        January 15, 2025 at 8:47 am | #

        Oh pshaw. A few seconds of that, and we wouldn’t have ANY problems. Such a great helper, the Sun (when it’s 0.1 AU away).

        • eh, whatever
          eh, whatever
          January 15, 2025 at 12:54 pm | #

          1 AU, by definition.

          • Michael Steamweed
            Michael Steamweed
            January 15, 2025 at 4:10 pm | #

            Yeah, I know it’s 1 AU now. I meant when it’s at 0.1 AU it’ll be cooking our bacon and then some.

    • Mark
      Mark
      January 15, 2025 at 7:01 am | #

      Fortunately modern TVs don’t have 15kHz sweep circuits whistling at me all the time they’re on, and those “ultrasonic” traffic counters have been supplanted by quieter methods.

  27. HueSatLight
    HueSatLight
    January 15, 2025 at 1:06 am | #

    Similar situation with Robin, love her expression in that strip.

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      January 15, 2025 at 1:06 am | #

      wft panel 1

    • Shakes
      Shakes
      January 15, 2025 at 1:29 am | #

      Robin prefers to be called everyone’s cool older sister.

  28. BBCC
    BBCC
    January 15, 2025 at 1:28 am | #

    Still not beating the mom allegations, Leslie.

    • anon
      anon
      January 15, 2025 at 5:16 pm | #

      not necessarily a bad thing, dunno if it happens as often in college but surprised not to hear more students call their teachers ‘mom’ growing up tho i’ve seen that recapped in like an ’embarrassing moments from childhood’ type comics/auto bios but it makes sense b/c depending, your teachers might see more of you than your parents

  29. IniquitousKing
    IniquitousKing
    January 15, 2025 at 1:59 am | #

    Clearly Charlie-speak for, ‘Get your hand off of my shoulder if you want to keep it Leslie.’

    At the very least she doesn’t look particularly comfortable in that last panel.

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      January 15, 2025 at 3:12 am | #

      No touchy! Nooooo touchy! No touch!

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      January 15, 2025 at 5:04 am | #

      She seems fine.

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 15, 2025 at 8:48 am | #

      Seems more like Charlie honestly asking “Are we this familiar? I don’t remember or notice, so be honest.”

    • anon
      anon
      January 16, 2025 at 6:08 pm | #

      She didn’t rly seem that upset, for someone like her i’d expect her to be surprised, but she held dina’s hand pretty easily so i assume she’s not super averse to being touched or so

  30. darkoneko
    darkoneko
    January 15, 2025 at 3:01 am | #

    definitely manic chuckle

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      January 15, 2025 at 3:12 am | #

      I thought it went “TWO SCOOPS”.

  31. Arianod
    Arianod
    January 15, 2025 at 3:04 am | #

    Be the mom you want to see in the world.

  32. Qube
    Qube
    January 15, 2025 at 3:22 am | #

    what if it’s moaning

    • Reltzik
      Reltzik
      January 15, 2025 at 4:02 am | #

      Probably is. I hear it’s got Coronavirus.

      • NGPZ
        NGPZ
        January 15, 2025 at 5:19 am | #

        Nah bru that’s the corona, from the Latin word for “crown”,

        It’s the outermost part of the sun’s atmosphere comprised of charged particles under the influence of the sun’s magnetic fields and extreme temperature even greater than that of the sun’s surface. Much easier to observe in action during a solar eclipse.

        • Daibhid C
          Daibhid C
          January 15, 2025 at 7:10 am | #

          Simon and Garfunkel say it’s ruled by a queen named Rosie. But Disney say it’s ruled by Rapunzel’s parents.

  33. Kyulen
    Kyulen
    January 15, 2025 at 3:31 am | #

    I like Charlie, but every time I see her I’m confused at how she functions. She seems to be barely aware of the world around her most of the time.

    • Daibhid C
      Daibhid C
      January 15, 2025 at 7:07 am | #

      Either some part of her is actually pretty together when she needs to be but she’s spacy enough that this isn’t obvious even to herself, or things just happen to work out for her, out of pure luck.

      I’m pretty sure one of those things is true of me, and one of these days I should probably find out which. Like, apparently I remember to order groceries every week? That seems unlikely, but it keeps happening!

      • Michael Steamweed
        Michael Steamweed
        January 15, 2025 at 8:50 am | #

        I _can_ be that level of spacy. I try to automate and routinize stuff in my life as much as possible.

  34. Aquila
    Aquila
    January 15, 2025 at 3:57 am | #

    The ominousness of the laughter would depend on the sun’s sense of humour, wouldn’t it?

  35. Da Boy
    Da Boy
    January 15, 2025 at 4:55 am | #

    Apparently if there was atmosphere in space we wouldn’t be able to hear our own thoughts because the Sun’s roar would drown everything out.

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      January 15, 2025 at 5:03 am | #

      Like, where does the sun’s atmosphere necessarily begin and end?

      Besides it’s gravitational pull, the sun’s incredible magnetic field exerts it’s influence on space gas well beyond even Pluto’s orbit.

      Even if it makes no audible sound on earth *directly*, solar flares and coronal mass ejections within the sun’s atmosphere can exert tremendous effect on earth’s navigation and communication systems and even power grids, the potential results of which, as you could imagine, can be very loud XD

      • Zaxares
        Zaxares
        January 15, 2025 at 7:55 am | #

        Supposedly we already ARE in the Sun’s atmosphere. It’s called the Heliosphere, and it actually extends out past Pluto (it’s REALLY big).

        • Michael Steamweed
          Michael Steamweed
          January 15, 2025 at 8:51 am | #

          Yup. The Voyager 1 and 2 probes only just recently hit that division. (which is really fuzzy, so they’ve been going through it for some time now)

          • NGPZ
            NGPZ
            January 15, 2025 at 5:52 pm | #

            well of course them “boundary” be fuzzy, like the rest of nature, things in space hardly like to follow neat little lines which are ultimately drawn there by humans for convenience XD

    • yak
      yak
      January 15, 2025 at 1:35 pm | #

      depends how dense the atmosphere is. The thinner the atmosphere, the less noise travels through it. Even the famous Martian dust storms would probably be inaudible to humans.

      I think, also, if the atmosphere was as thick as Earth’s atmosphere and fixed relative to the sun, the noise of the earth whooshing through it would probably drown out everything else.

  36. Taffy
    Taffy
    January 15, 2025 at 6:52 am | #

    Okay but what would happen if I took two suns and smashed them together as quickly as I can clap my hands? Like, one sun on the left, one on the right, they’re like the distance from our sun to Pluto, and then BAM?

    • Mark
      Mark
      January 15, 2025 at 7:05 am | #

      Confirmation of the existence of gravitational waves.

      • Taffy
        Taffy
        January 15, 2025 at 7:21 am | #

        Yeah but like, would it make a cool noise and light show?

        • Michael Steamweed
          Michael Steamweed
          January 15, 2025 at 8:54 am | #

          Noise, yes.
          Light show, definitely yes.
          Cool, definitely not. Totally the opposite. We’d be boiled alive about 8-9 minutes after the clap.

          • Taffy
            Taffy
            January 15, 2025 at 4:54 pm | #

            Maybe you would. I’d be fine.

    • Nymph
      Nymph
      January 15, 2025 at 7:34 am | #

      If a sun falls in the forest and there’s no one around to hear it…

  37. Michael Steamweed
    Michael Steamweed
    January 15, 2025 at 8:26 am | #

    Lovecraft wrote lots of stories about the laughing, maniacal Azathoth (aka, our Sun). 🙂

  38. Deanatay
    Deanatay
    January 15, 2025 at 8:44 am | #

    Yeah…. Allegations still not beaten, Leslie.

  39. raultsi
    raultsi
    January 15, 2025 at 8:45 am | #

    It’s actually muttering under its breath “One of these days, kapow, right in the kisser.”

    • Michael Steamweed
      Michael Steamweed
      January 15, 2025 at 8:55 am | #

      “One of these days, I’m going to hold my breath, turn red, get really big, and swallow all youse people!”

  40. DJTsurugi
    DJTsurugi
    January 15, 2025 at 11:46 am | #

    the knowledge of how absolutely noisy the universe is, but we just can’t hear it is staggering. ~<3

  41. Kep
    Kep
    January 15, 2025 at 12:15 pm | #

    Relatable, Charlie.

  42. Jammy
    Jammy
    January 15, 2025 at 2:08 pm | #

    Ok, Charlie. You only had to share your thoughts to let me know you were great this whole time and not just an archetype of a diagnosis.
    More people should talk to Charlie instead of at Charlie.

    • Jeremiah
      Jeremiah
      January 15, 2025 at 2:38 pm | #

      Like Carla ironically.

  43. Rabisch
    Rabisch
    January 15, 2025 at 2:19 pm | #

    I’ve the sensation that Leslie, deep down, wants to have children.

  44. Poyo
    Poyo
    January 15, 2025 at 3:43 pm | #

    I LOVE YOU CHARLIE NEVER CHANGE

  45. Needfuldoer
    Needfuldoer
    January 15, 2025 at 4:17 pm | #

    Leslie and Charlie are going to inexplicably disappear for tomorrow, aren’t they…

  46. Zamperla
    Zamperla
    January 15, 2025 at 8:50 pm | #

    it does! : )

  47. Joy
    Joy
    January 15, 2025 at 11:04 pm | #

    Omg Leslie is in this outfit again! Yay! It’s my favorite one of her outfits.

  48. CardinalFan
    CardinalFan
    January 15, 2025 at 11:37 pm | #

    It’s Mr. PoPo’s laughter.

CHOOSE A SIDE, NO COWARDS

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  • Polls Archive
CONVENTION APPEARANCES


May 3, 2025 - FCBD @ Laughing Ogre Comics in Columbus, Ohio

David M Willis! avatar
David M Willis!
@damnyouwillis.bsky.social
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 42min
ACAB means Dolly
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 4h
Three days to go! www.makeship.com/petitions/tr...
damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatarDavid M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 7d
www.makeship.com/petitions/tr... Wanna Tricerahoodie Dina plush? GO PLEDGE FOR ONE! We need 200 people to make it happen! Pledge period will end in 10 days!
header image - Tricerahoodie Dina Plushie
www.makeship.com
Tricerahoodie Dina Plushie
Dina is so small and quiet that she goes completely unnoticed by most people for long stretches of time. She doesn’t talk much — she prefers to observe. People and how they interact is a puzzle to Din...
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 10h
I think you mean the Slug-Maker
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 11h
today in #9chickweedlane i guess we're memory-holing again that 1997 story where amos and edda kissed for the first time after she, uh, got shot at school
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 11h
this has real "leia comforting luke for losing a guy he just met after her planet got exploded" energy
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 12h
Dumbing of Age: "Locate" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomics #webcomic
www.dumbingofage.com
Locate
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 19h
butts disease
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reposted by David M Willis!
soundmirrors.bsky.social's user avatar
Unnatural Selections @soundmirrors.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
It’s been awhile since I’ve more seriously read up on Ugaritic and Canaanite religions (alas, w/semi dated scholarship), but this is interesting, and not in a peaceful matriarchal fantasy kind of way.
theradr.bsky.social's user avatarRabbi Danya Ruttenberg @theradr.bsky.social ⋅ 20d
If you do a close read not only of the Bible but the archeology, it starts to look like the Israelites, & all but a couple of Judean kings, worshipped a goddess for pretty much the whole First Temple era. The implications of this are... far ranging-- & her name might not be what we've believed.
header image - Israelite Goddess Mystery Quest
www.lifeisasacredtext.com
Israelite Goddess Mystery Quest
smashing pillars / tracing echoes
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Have some sticker ideas for Toyhax
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
fellas, is hasbro trying to make toys for children again
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Erase Soundwave's mouth! Recolor him light blue! ...don't correct Ratbat's miscolored face in the next panel
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
So, I put my mind to it and retaught myself 3D modeling.
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
who wore it better
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 1d
Dumbing of Age: "Pervasively" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomics #webcomic
www.dumbingofage.com
Pervasively
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reposted by David M Willis!
indigo-k.com's user avatar
-indy ✨ (he/him) @indigo-k.com ⋅ 2d
WIP: Taking a break for dinner, and then back to finish this later tonight:
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reposted by David M Willis!
gwensnyder.bsky.social's user avatar
Gwen Snyder is uncivil @gwensnyder.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
I will say for the umpteenth time that the Democratic establishment is terrible at understanding enthusiasm math. An energized base is crucial to winning fights-- electoral and otherwise-- because they will drag the low info folks out to vote and protest and engage. You NEED that energy.
gwensnyder.bsky.social's user avatarGwen Snyder is uncivil @gwensnyder.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
It's not just that he and his policies are unpopular, there's a clear and demonstrated enthusiasm differential now. His base is energetically absent, ours is livid and out in the streets.
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reposted by David M Willis!
fakeeyes.bsky.social's user avatar
FakeEyes @fakeeyes.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Pretty good Spider-Man figure, I don’t care what they say.
Spider-Man doing that thing you expect. It’s the butt thing. Why have I done this to myself? Is this my life? Yes.
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reposted by David M Willis!
zaratustra.bsky.social's user avatar
zaratustra @zaratustra.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
@damnyouwillis.bsky.social adjacent to your interests
adashtra.bsky.social's user avatarAsh Parrish @adashtra.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Turns out the guy was Chuck Ayers, a nationally recognized cartoonist and creator of Crankshaft. He had a lot to say but the thing that struck me was that when he talked about whats going on now, I could see he was holding back emotion. All this still hurts him to see 55 (!!) years later.
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reposted by David M Willis!
katiestp.bsky.social's user avatar
Katie @katiestp.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Right now, these sweet kids have no clue how impactful this period in history will be for them, but I hope they will be proud of the time they made the best protest sign ever: The green one that says “Trump eats boogers” #NoKings
Kids and adults standing on a pedestrian bridge over the highway with protest signs that say fascists out and no Trump no ice. The best one is green and says Trump eats boogers.
katiestp.bsky.social's user avatarKatie @katiestp.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
We can’t make the actual event at the capitol today, so you’ll find us with the kids on University with our signs (and I might bring the megaphone too). Even if you can’t make it to the capitol - come out in your own neighborhoods, even if it’s for a few minutes. Be seen. Be heard. #nokings
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reposted by David M Willis!
anguirus.bsky.social's user avatar
Anguirus @anguirus.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
rude of you to call me out like this @damnyouwillis.bsky.social
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
www.ebay.com/itm/23614371... five hours left on this weirdo in the box weirdo not in the box is not for sale
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reposted by David M Willis!
charliejane.bsky.social's user avatar
Charlie Jane "Lessons in Magic and Disaster" Anders 🏳️‍⚧ @charliejane.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
At Comic-Con 2009 I was getting misgendered a fair bit and feeling anxious AF about it. Robert Downey Jr. was doing a press conf for Sherlock Holmes. I wanted to shout out a question but hated drawing attn to myself. I did it anyway. He gestured at me: "the lady in the blue shirt." I was so happy.
bolt451.bsky.social's user avatarHunter S Schafer @bolt451.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
Right folks. Feeling rather down at the moment so bringing back an oldie Please Quote this with your most minor celebrity interaction
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
dawn these are not the same things you had an abusive boyfriend wilbur had a live-in sex stranger who he chose over your safety because he was getting laid, until the moment something almost happened to HIS GOLDFISH
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 2d
Dumbing of Age: "Counter-protest" www.dumbingofage.com/2025/comic/b... #webcomics #webcomic
www.dumbingofage.com
Counter-protest
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
(June 19, 2026)
It's Joyce!  Directing our attention leftwards!
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damnyouwillis.bsky.social's user avatar
David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 3d
yeah maybe joyce switching to paramore from dc talk last storyline was a good move variety.com/2025/music/n...
header image - Hayley Williams Hopes Christian Music Industry ‘Crumbles’ Amid Michael Tait Scandal: ‘F— All of You Who Knew and Didn’t Say Anything’
variety.com
Hayley Williams Hopes Christian Music Industry ‘Crumbles’ Amid Michael Tait Scandal: ‘F— All of You Who Knew and Didn’t Say Anything’
Paramore singer Hayley Williams has reacted angrily to news of accusations against Christian music star Michael Tait, saying, 'I hope the CCM industry crumbles.'
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reposted by David M Willis!
daisyfm.net's user avatar
DaisyFM ✒︎ @daisyfm.net ⋅ 3d
I think it's been long enough that we should all be able to agree that Charles Martinet sounds nothing like what Mario is supposed to sound like.
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reposted by David M Willis!
davidmalki.com's user avatar
david malki ! 🔩 New game! BOLTED 🔩 @davidmalki.com ⋅ 3d
The universe told me "Stop obsessively collecting 19th century illustrations. Here. Now you have plenty. You are done now. Go do the second half of your deal, where you make more things out of them"
video thumbnail
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